1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bus bar assembly formed by a plurality of bus bars being molded by an insulating resin, and a method for manufacturing the bus bar assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power conversion device that converts direct-current power from a battery to alternating-current power is used in hybrid vehicles and electric cars. Electrical components, such as switching elements, capacitors, and reactors, are included within the power conversion device. A bus bar composed of a conductor is used to connect the terminals of these electric components.
JP-A-2011-35277 discloses a bus bar assembly that includes a plurality of bus bars and a resin mold section. The bus bars are stacked with a predetermined amount of space therebetween. The resin mold section is composed of an insulating resin and formed such as to mold the plurality of bus bars into a single body. According to JP-A-2011-35277, the bus bars are disposed such that adjacent bus bars face each other. As a result, inductance in the bus bars which causes surge voltage to occur can be reduced.
However, in the bus bar assembly in JP-A-2011-35277, when the plurality of bus bars are molded by the insulating resin, each bus bar is fixed by being sandwiched by jigs from both sides in the thickness direction. Therefore, each bus bar is provided with through-holes for placing the jigs for fixing the other bus bars. As a result, the surface area of the bus bar is reduced by an amount equivalent to the through-holes. In other words, the facing area of adjacent bus bars is reduced. As a result, inductance may not be sufficiently reduced. This problem becomes more significant as the number of bus bars increases.
On the other hand, in the structure of the bus bar assembly in JP-A-2011-35277, when the facing area of the adjacent bus bars is increased, the size of the bus bars themselves is required to be increased. When the size of the bus bars is increased, a problem occurs in that the overall bus bar assembly increases in size.
For these reasons, a bus bar assembly in which inductance can be sufficiently reduced and a method for manufacturing the bus bar assembly are desired.